Audio Recording on Laptop Mic-in?

Envato Authors AudioJungle
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What is the disadvantage of recording from a guitar boss M50 into your Mic Line In on a laptop to using a usb interface instead?

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Hi Markmarkmarko, have a read of this guide, it should help

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It depends… Some laptops have horrible Mic-in (Lenovo, HP). Macs have a decent Mic-in.

Some USB interfaces are horrible. Like the cheapo Behringer ones. Some are fantastic. Go for RME.

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Yeah so on vocals I use an art 4ch tubemix and on podcast vocals I use a scarlette focusrite… but i still prefer using the art tubemix main outs into mic line in on the computer. I run it through asio4all and it sounds fine… by avoiding an answer that’s “well if sounds good do it” I’m looking for more your guys experience with it. I always always find more latency with usb no matter how many settings i mess with… and I’m running i7 8th gen 16gb 3.60ghz… so. What do you guys prefer? Have you tried both? Could I be missing the full 24bits I’m recording in? Could the range of my recordings be narrow from just using the line in? (That’s a confusing question) meaning: could I be limiting myself from just using a 3.5mm line 2ch line in? Does usb record better? Technically speaking… Ive tried research on this… I’ve found very little info. Does usb technically record better?

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USB doesn’t record anything. It merely transfers data.

Audio converters is what you need to record audio. Audio converters built in laptops are usually poor quality. This is why you need an audio interface with high quality audio converters. These can be connected via usb, firewire, thunderbolt,…)

You should definitely check out the link provided by @criskcracker

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I appreciate the link and am currently reading it now. Yes. I know usb doesn’t record… I just say it that way i.e. record through usb or 3.5 mic in. As far as I gather. Don’t do straight line in. Use a usb to transfer the sound from a good interface to my desktop. I mean. I hear of nobody doing it my way. Here is an example of what my way sounds like with straight from my bossm50 into mic line in.

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Heres the link

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Also do you guys recommend still using asio4all while using the external sound card?

I asked this then found an answer and will post it if anyone ever reads this.

This means that ASIO4all connects to an audio device’s own WDM Driver or the Windows Generic USB Driver and allows that driver to appear as ASIO to your DAW.

Thus when using ASIO4all you are bypassing the manufacturer’s own ASIO Device Driver written specifically for that hardware. Using the WDM Driver or Generic Microsoft driver for that audio device will have much slower latency and performance than a native ASIO Device Driver.

Please always select the correct device driver for your Focusrite Interface, which should read “Focusrite” or the unit’s name such as “Scarlett” “Saffire” “Clarett” etc.

For more information on ASIO4all please see the ASIO4all FAQ page here. You can see in this article that ASIO4all makers do not recommend installing the manufacturer driver for your USB unit, same as we don’t recommend installing their software. Thus please do not run ASIO4all with your Focusrite unit, as these are not meant to be compatible.